(Posted April 26, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Dustin Gee, a senior from Lawrenceville, Pa. at Juniata College studying communication and writing, has been named a Fulbright Fellow to teach English at the University of Montenegro in the capital city of Podgorica through June 2011.

He is a 2006 graduate of Williamson Junior/Senior High School.

Gee, the son of Roger and Virginia Gee of Lawrenceville, will be assigned a posting at a university in Montenegro. Montenegro is a country in southeastern Europe bordered by Bosnia, Herzogovina, Kosovo, Albania and Serbia. Gee will receive a bachelor's degree from Juniata in May.

Gee is one of two Fulbright fellows to be the first Fulbright Fellows to serve in Montenegro.

Gee has been extraordinarily active on campus in a variety of student clubs and activities. He also has traveled extensively during his tenure at Juniata. He studied abroad at Edinburgh Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland in fall 2008. He also spent several weeks in Israel in a cultural immersion program sponsored by the Jewish Ministry Institute. In January of this year he spent three weeks in the Gambia in western Africa.

Gee was able to attend Juniata thanks to a 2006 McElvey Foundation Gold Scholarship, which provided $50,000 for undergraduate education. In 2008, he was awarded first place in the Bailey Oratorical Contest, and was chosen in July 2009 to attend the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh.

He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society, and Lambda Pi Eta, the communication honor society. He served as executive chair of the Juniata Activities Board, an umbrella organization that oversees student activities on campus. He also served as president of SPEAK, the student communications club.

He has also led the way for many incoming students, serving for three years as a summer orientation leader and acting as internship coordinator for Inbound Orientation Retreats. He also served as a resident assistant in Juniata's residence halls for three years.

He also presented a workshop on engaging student organizations at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa. at a meeting of the Pennsylvania National Association for Multicultural Education. If he is not asked to complete a Fulbright fellowship, Gee has been accepted to three graduate programs in higher education.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program equips future American leaders with the skills they need to thrive in increasingly global environment by providing funding for one academic year of study or research abroad, to be conducted after graduation from an accredited university.

Fellows undertake self-designed programs in disciplines ranging from social sciences, business, communication and performing arts to physical sciences, engineering and education. The U.S. Student Program awards approximately 1100 grants annually and currently operates in over 140 countries worldwide.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Financial support is provided by an annual appropriation from Congress to the Department of State, with significant contributions from participating governments and host institutions in the United States and abroad. The presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board formulates policy guidelines and makes the final selection of all grantees.

The Institute of International Education administers and coordinates the activities relevant to the U.S. Student Program, including an annual competition for the scholarships. The Fulbright Program also awards grants to American teachers and faculty to do research, lecture and teach overseas. In addition, some 2,200 foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study, carry out research and lecture at U.S. universities, colleges and secondary schools.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.